Breathing
Long exhale reset
Breathing · Seated or standing
- How to do it
- Inhale through the nose, then sigh out through the mouth for longer than the inhale. Soft shoulders. Stop if you feel lightheaded.
- Dose
- 5 breaths
- What you should feel
- Your shoulders drop on the way out
- Common mistake
- Breathing too fast (hyperventilating).
- Make it easier
- Breathe normally and just notice one full exhale.
- Avoid this movement if
- Breathing exercises make you feel more anxious.
- Why DeskBreak uses it
- A long exhale slows things down. Slow breathing has reasonable evidence for reducing felt tension.
Stop this movement if it causes sharp or worsening pain, numbness, weakness or dizziness.
Evidence
Moderate evidence.
- How breath-control can change your life: a systematic review on psycho-physiological correlates of slow breathing (Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 2018)